Uh, no.
I can answer your entire post with "D. Branch" but I'll break down and counter the points you was trying to make. First of all it will not come down to another team signing him to an offer sheet. There has been only one player in the history of the franchise tag (J. Galloway) who was exchanged for the original 2 first rd picks compensation. Naturally having buyer's remorse, DAL realized it was a huge mistake. The entire league learned from this so it's not going to happen again.
His asking price is at least D. Bly new numbers, not the 80 mil some are so fixated on. Teams have and will continue to find ways to fit top players into their cap structure even after the draft.
Another team is going to have to compensate the Patriots with at least two draft picks and at least one of them is going to be a first-round pick, then that team is going to have to give Asante Samuel a big dollar contract. Name me one player in the NFL that was tagged and sat out it wasn't Deion Branch?
Again, D. Branch. He was willing to sit out the first ten games. The 8 mil tender looks great on paper but what happens if he has a season ending injury before game one? If it's a young top player we're talking about then the team's value for a future trade decreases, not the player's. A year is not taken away from him, remember he's reporting after the tenth game.
Deion Branch was not a free agent that was tagged. He was in the fifth year of his rookie contract that was scheduled to pay him $1.045 mil. in 2006, not anywhere near the guaranteed $8 mil. that Samuel would be leaving on the table. Secondly, to undermine your point further, it was the Patriots who apparently refused to trade him till they extracted exactly what THEY wanted from another team. Branch filed a grievance against the Patriots because it was claimed the Patriots turned down fair trade offers for Branch in an attempt to extract more from trade partners. Receiver is obviously a position the Pats think they can plug in and play, they don't value the position highly. That is not the case with cornerbacks. The Patriots aren't going to let Samuel go for less then a mint in compensation.
They got the 24th pick in the draft for Branch, what do you think they'd get for Samuel, and who is going to pay it? Don't hold your breath.
Holding out till the tenth game of the season would do Samuel no good. He's a free agent, he's not under contract like Branch was, Samuel isn't trying to accrue credits toward free agency (the CBA says that if you play the last six-games of the season it counts as a full-season and you thereby satisfy a year on your contract, but only get paid for the games you play) like Branch was, Samuel is already a free agent, and if he doesn't sign the tender, he'll sit on the bench, lose out on the $8 mil. guaranteed. and still be subject to the Patriots franchise tag next year. No player has ever sat out a season after being tagged. Samuel ain't going to either.
Donovan Darius? (I'm saying this like Mora's "Playoffs?")
He had no choice because his services outside JAX weren't in high demand. He was/is a big hitter nothing more. No offense Jags fans but IMO Darius is a slightly better Roy Williams. Top corners don't grow on trees. BTW, next season the fran tag will be the average top 5 regardless of position so If I'm Asante I'll dare ne to tag me again.
Your value judgement aside, Darius was one of the five best safeties in the league. He was tagged 3 straight years. Everybody said the Jags were going to cut him loose after they signed Deon Grant a few years ago, because they couldn't tie up all that money at one position, yadda, yadda. He was that valuable to the team. He played chicken, and lost. And if you don't think Darius had many other choices, try Walter Jones, maybe the best left tackle in the game was tagged three straight years by the Seahawks, then he gave up and signed the long-term deal. Are you going to tell us Jones had no value on the market either so he just went along because he didn't have better options?
And by the way, you're simply incorrect about the new franchise rule that goes into effect next year. The rule states that a team can franchise a player two years in a row and pay the average of the top five at the position, but if they attempt to do it a third-year in a row, they must pay the top five average of all positions, quarterback money. This wouldn't apply to Samuel in any case because if he refuses to sign the tender and he sits out, he is then subject to the franchise tag not one more time, but two more times because the tag only counts when the player accepts the tender and plays. The Patriots can tag Samuel again next year even if he accepts this year's tender, and still pay him the average at CB, it won't be until 2009 when they're obligated to give him quarterback money, which they will not. So you were saying about Samuel's leverage? Or Briggs's for that matter? They don't have any, that's why they're whining in the press.
